Friday, 18 October 2013

Artist and Doctor cycles to Harrogate 17 October 2013

There’s a sense of waste in a journey of a particular length
that’s not cycled. Harrogate is 55 or 60 miles from Sheffield and I had offered
to talk to a medical conference some months ago and was expected. My slot was
not until 3.30 and I felt I could miss the earlier sessions without too much
loss. The forecast was good and I had some time to prepare the day before and I
felt the need to give it a try. It’s a bit further than my comfy habit but I’d
like to be able to do these longer runs.

So, I booked a ticket on the train just in case, set off at
0945 and spun on up through my old commute to Chapletown and then on up to
Barnsley. I forgot the computer so my recollection of the the mileeage is
rough. I did Barnsley in 75 minutes and felt good so powered on to Wakefield
with a stop to remove a layer and a banana on the go. The road was reasonable
and traffic light. It’s hilly but with no shockers and I’ve done this route few
times so felt confident in where to go. It’s not Umbria but there’s enough
interest in listening to the old body and working on keeping the pace up. Passed
workmen, window cleaners and multiple South Yorkshire folk who all seem
slightly Ukranian, big, died hair and practically dressed.

Made Wakefield by 2 hours and stopped for a Panini and a
coffee in a marvellously Yorkshire-ised Italian coffee shop and was fed
generously for a fiver, all in. There were Italian conversations and Wakefield
accents with Africans on the computers and elderly Yorkshire couples treating
themselves to an early lunch. I was treated too, to a wonderful bus stop outside with the queue
constantly changing its cast of players. We had bleached hair, fatties, ladies
with pillows and endless tasteless plastic bags of shopping. Couples were
disputing and the lost asking directions, there were dogs, flowers and prams, I
couldn’t have asked for more. The Panini was good, had a caloric salad and the
coffee quite passable. I checked my little map and was off after half an hour
of leg rest and re-fuelling.

The road to Leeds is prettier. There are rolling rich fields
and the land is dotted with estate buildings old walls and feels classy. Nice
open lengths of road and took me into Leeds which is easy to navigate too.
There’s a big hill out of Leeds and on past Harewood House into lovely country
with very tired legs. I was now nearing four hours and had the terrible syndrome
of feeling invincible on the flat, godly on the downhill and then devastated on
the mildest of uphill gradient, realising that the old legs are really useless
now. Down to the lowest gear on the weasliest climb, I got to a sign for
Harrogate and felt I was nearly there. But then there was another sign saying I
had another 3 miles to go. Devastating. You’d have thought that after this
distance the last bit should be easy but by this time I was hurting. But then,
wonderful Harrogate delivered, with a
lovely downhill drift into the pretty town and I was there.

I’d been a little under four hours on bike, four
and a half with the break, I felt that was respectable. Much cake, having
missed lunch, the relief of walking on the flat, washing, weeing and then sitting through a lecture, drifting
off a bit, all set me up. My talk, delivered in cycling gear with an
environmental plug, went down well and I cadged a lift home with a kindly
fellow doctor from the children’s hospital whose kids I had drawn a school open
day about 20 years ago. The satnav took us an odd way and we spent 2 hours in
the car to